


breath you into my veins

by crownedSerpent09



Series: Xiuharem One Shots [7]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, One Shot, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 12:39:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7463628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownedSerpent09/pseuds/crownedSerpent09
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Really, it’s not so bad.” He took Minseok’s hand, admiring the scaled armor that began at his wrist. “I am called Kai by the elders, but you may call me Jongin, like my friends do.”</p><p>In which Minseok guards the lord's wealth and Jongin haunts the roads on which they have to travel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	breath you into my veins

Minseok maintained his expression of perfect detachment even as the men swore and the horses rebelled, screaming with their eyes rolled back in their heads. They were passing through the mystic sect of the forest, and the silly humans had underestimated its dangers.

Pink-purple smoke crowded into the spaces between the trees, and glittering gold lights danced above them. The hunting dogs the knights of the party brought whined and cowered on the ground. Inside the carriage, the lord was cursing profusely, and he opened the front window to yell at his underlings. Minseok sat in his seat attached to the back of the carriage, unmoving.

A strong wind blew, rustling the green-blue bladed leaves in the trees. The smoke cleared, and the golden lights danced upwards and upwards, until they blinked out of sight just above the canopy.

It was dusk by the time the party was ready to continue, but they hurried onwards, rushing away from the unsettling sights of the mystic forest. The leaves were becoming rounder and greener and the men began to breathe normally again when shadows began leaping ahead, farther along the path. The coachman called out to the lord, asking if the lord wanted them to stop. This was the only path out of the forest. The lord ordered them to continue.

The shadows bled to the sides of the party, coming into Minseok’s vision. They were twisting and spinning, movements flowing and sharp. Their dance was working on the men, and soon, the speed of the party slowed as the men were taken by the mesmerizing sights.

The first to drift off the path was one of the lord’s servants, slipping off his horse and disappearing into the darkness of the forest. Minseok watched him go, the bell at his neck silent as only the whites of his eyes moved.

Next, two of the knights galloped ahead, racing each other like children mastering a horse for the first time. They were drawn into the lines of shadows on different sides of the path. The carriage came to a stop as the men were lured into the forest one by one, until all that was left was the lord and Minseok, ever vigilant. Even the animals had all run off, spooked.

Lethargically, Minseok stood up in his seat. His movements were careful yet agile as he checked the luggage tied to the top of the carriage, counted the chests. His bell rang once, booming in the silence of the dancing forms.

“Minseok?” came a timid, quivering voice from inside of the carriage. The lord was hiding with his face hidden behind his hands when Minseok opened the door, the only reason he was spared from the temptation of dying lost in the mystic forest.

“Your possessions are all accounted for, my lord,” Minseok reported, voice inflectionless.

The lord took in a sharp breath and placed his shaking hands in his lap. The look he gave Minseok was pitiful. “Can you get me out of here?” For once, he was unable to demand and thunder over the beings he commanded.

He begged pathetically when Minseok gave a single shake of the head “no,” the bell around his neck erupting in noise to add to the sounds of the man groveling. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, he stiffen and his eyes widened with fear.

Minseok turned around to find the most beautiful being he had ever seen in all his centuries of life. It was one of the shadows, the form substantial now that it was right in front of Minseok’s eyes. It was male, with smooth tan skin that bled into the pink-purple vapor that wrapped around his form. The angles of his cheekbones and jaw and the hollows that formed under his lips were highlighted by the snowy white werelights that had sprung up all along the path. His dark eyes glittered with the reflections of pinkish purple and small, bright lights.

“You are far from home, Haetae,” he stated, voice deep but lilting with a strain of childishness.

“If you are here for the lord, you may have him with no fight from me,” Minseok returns and bows out of the way.

“The lord may come of his own accord,” he said, tilting his head to the side and drawing attention to the curve of his throat. “I am here for you.”

Minseok pressed his lips into a thin line and ignored the anguished pleas of the lord behind him. “I do not play your games, nymph.”

His lips curled upwards. “I have another name.”

“And I know better to invoke it.” Names held power, usually over the subject. In the case of this species, when spoken, it gave  _ them _ power over the speakers.

From behind him, the lord’s crying finally stopped, and with a thud, he landed on the ground next to Minseok. In a daze, the man walked in between the trees.

“Really, it’s not so bad.” He took Minseok’s hand, admiring the scaled armor that began at his wrist. “I am called Kai by the elders, but you may call me Jongin, like my friends do.”

Minseok allowed himself to be led along, glancing back at the abandoned carriage. The lord’s wealth held no more value to the man, and Minseok’s job was now nonexistent. He followed the beautiful creature into the dark green depths, knowing that he could take himself out of there at any time, knowing that he may never want to.

**Author's Note:**

> Minseok is based on the Chinese Qilin, which is said to guard the wealth its owner, and the Korean Haetae, which predicts and prevents natural disasters (and Jongin in a natural disaster in his own right).
> 
> Jongin is a mixture of the Greek Sirens and Wood Nymphs.


End file.
